The company produces 500 litres of yoghurt every week with plans to double this next month demand increases.
The aloe vera extracts are extremely bitter and the juice makers had to mask its taste by mixing the drink with mango juice to make it palatable, he explained.
The shrub’s leaves are ground into a pulp and heated to boiling point, leaving dry exudates which are used to make bathing soap and shampoo among other products.
Nicholas Nyaga, an accountant who previously worked at the Nairobi Hospital and Magadi Soda, is a health buff.
His desire to see people live healthier lives is the reason he ditched his accounting career and stepped into the highly competitive world of fast-moving consumer goods.
Mr Nyaga, 59, is the brains behind Choice Health Limited, a Runda-based company that produces a brand of yoghurt called Tuti Probiotic, which is infused with aloe vera extracts.
The company produces 500 litres of yoghurt every week with plans to double this next month demand increases. The drink comes in three flavours — vanilla, strawberry and natural.
“The yoghurts found in the market are too sugary — too much sugar predisposes individuals to diseases such as obesity and diabetes,” Mr Nyaga told Enterprise at his Runda Estate home last week.
Tuti, the entrepreneur claims, has a lower sugar content than its rivals in the market while the value addition through aloe vera further helps to boost immunity and keep illnesses at bay.
While working at Magadi Soda, he interacted with friends who were looking to develop innovative products using aloe vera.
The plant, which is extensively used in beauty products, is said to have numerous good properties that can be harnessed to boost one’s health.
Mr Nyaga read widely about the plant and, together with his friends, started aloe vera juice production which they sold locally.
The aloe vera extracts are extremely bitter and the juice makers had to mask its taste by mixing the drink with mango juice to make it palatable, he explained.
Years before this venture, Mr Nyaga lost his mother to pancreatic cancer, a tragedy that increased his resolve to understand the disease and ways to enhance healthy living.
“It was discovered too late that she had pancreatic cancer and only had six months to live. After that, I lost very many close friends and family to cancer, which made me start reading widely about the disease,” he said.
Choice Health, which started production last December with a Sh11 million bank loan, has five employees.
Mr Nyaga distributes his product to lower tier retail stores such as JD Supermarket in Loresho, Safeways in Hurlingham, Hardy Provision Store in Karen and Home Mart in Utawala.
“Our message is simple. Let food (yoghurt) be your medicine before medicine becomes your food,” Mr Nyaga said.
Nutritional problem
Last November, the Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation invited Mr Nyaga to showcase his innovation at a symposium aimed at tackling nutritional problems in the country.
Aloe vera grows in arid and semi-arid areas. The shrub’s leaves are ground into a pulp and heated to boiling point, leaving dry exudates which are used to make bathing soap and shampoo among other products.
The leaves are applied to wounds to assist healing while its sap is drunk as an appetiser.
Diluted leaf sap is consumed as a supposed cure for malaria, typhoid fever, diarrhoea, oedema, swollen diaphragm, nose bleeding, headache, pneumonia, chest pain and as a disinfectant.
Mr Nyaga, who holds an MBA from the University of Leicester, believes that this plant extract will give his product an edge over the established yoghurt manufacturers in the Kenyan market.
